Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Order of the Phoenix/Chapter 24
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
Chapter 24 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Occlumency
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Kreacher reappears from the attic; it seems he was in Mrs. Black's old room. Harry is wary; Kreacher seems happier and Harry has caught him avidly staring at him a few times. Sirius, meanwhile, grows depressed as everyone's stay at Grimmauld Place nears its end. Professor Snape arrives at Grimmauld Place to announce that Dumbledore wants Harry to study Occlumency, the art of closing one's mind to another's intrusion. Harry agrees, but then discovers that Snape is to be teaching him. Sirius asks why Dumbledore cannot instruct Harry, but Snape responds it was Dumbledore's decision. A verbal battle escalates until Sirius and Snape are at wands drawn with Harry between trying to prevent a duel. Mr. Weasley, with the entire Weasley family and Hermione, enter. Mr. Weasley is fully recovered and has been discharged from St. Mungo's. Sirius and Snape separate, and Snape leaves, saying he expects Harry in his office at 6 o'clock Monday evening. Harry discusses the Occlumency lessons with Ron and Hermione. Hermione says it will stop the nightmares, though Ron feels he would rather have the nightmares.
Lupin and Tonks arrive the next day to escort them back to Hogwarts. Before Harry leaves, Sirius gives him a package, saying Harry can contact him with it. Harry privately resolves never to use it, not wanting to risk exposing Sirius. Lupin summons the Knight Bus, and they are greeted by Stan Shunpike. Stan recognizes Harry, but is quickly quelled by Tonks. Arriving at Hogwarts, Lupin and Tonks leave separately.
Harry's first day back is unpleasant, partly because he dreads his evening Occlumency lesson with Snape and partly because Dumbledore's Army members keep asking him when the next meeting is. Snape has ordered him to say he has Remedial Potions on Monday nights. Zacharias Smith is particularly supercilious. When Cho Chang reminds Harry that the next Hogsmeade weekend is February 14th, he is initially mystified. It is only as she leaves, apparently disappointed, that Harry suddenly understands, and he invites her to go to Hogsmeade with him on Valentine's Day weekend. She, now delighted, accepts.
Still distrusting Snape, Harry's first Occlumency lesson begins. Voldemort is skilled in Legilimency, the ability to read others' thoughts and memories. Occlumency will help Harry block his mind. Snape removes some of his own memories and deposits them into Dumbledore's Pensieve. Harry must try and prevent Snape from penetrating his mind, but Harry's first attempts fail miserably. However, Harry recognizes the hallway he has dreamt about so frequently; it is inside the Ministry of Magic leading to the Department of Mysteries. He and Mr. Weasley raced down it last summer to his hearing, and it is the same hallway where Mr. Weasley was attacked. Snape dismisses him, telling him to come back Wednesday. As Harry leaves, he sees Snape reinserting memories from the Pensieve into his head.
Harry discusses this latest revelation with Ron and Hermione in the library. They conclude that the weapon Voldemort seeks must be hidden in the Department of Mysteries. They retreat to the common room, expecting it to be quieter, but Fred and George are demonstrating the latest Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes product, Headless Hats, that make the wearer's head invisible. Harry gives up and heads to bed. Inside the dormitory, Harry is felled by intense pain and hears wild, almost insane laughter. As he returns to awareness, his scar is burning. Harry tells Ron he saw Voldemort's thoughts again, but this time he did not feel Voldemort's anger—the Dark Lord is ecstatic. Harry questions if Occlumency is weakening his defences rather than strengthening them and wonders what made Voldemort so happy.
[edit] Analysis
The rift between Sirius and Snape can never be mended; their mutual hate is too deeply embedded, although they realize they must try to put aside their personal feelings for the Order's sake. Unfortunately for Harry, their ongoing feud will likely make his Occlumency lessons even more unpleasant, in addition to the animosity and distrust he already has for Snape. Confusion on Harry's part about why he must study this is also making it more difficult. He is further frustrated that it is Snape, rather than Dumbledore, who is teaching him. Although Harry's progress is slow, mostly due to his resistance to having to study a subject he does not fully understand, the lessons are, probably accidentally, resulting in Harry seeing clearer images. Harry recognizes the hallway he sees as the one that leads to the Department of Mysteries within the Ministry of Magic, leading him to conclude that that is where the weapon Voldemort is seeking is hidden.
Kreacher's behavior is highly suspicious. He seems to be carefully watching Harry for a reason, although just why is unknown. His devotion to the Black family is almost fanatical, as is his hatred for Sirius, as well as Harry and anyone he considers a "blood traitor." This could be significant, as though he is magically bound to serve only Sirius and to protect his secrets, Kreacher may be looking for a way around this.
Snape removing his memories just before teaching Harry is interesting. He obviously fears that Harry might glimpse something if Harry should successfully penetrate his thoughts. Which memories he is hiding is unknown; they could be something incriminating or merely personal.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- What is Occlumency? What is Legilemency?
- Why does Snape order Harry to say that their sessions are for "remedial" Potions?
- Why do Snape and Sirius nearly curse one another? What stops them?
- Why doesn't Harry want to use Sirius' gift? Is he right, or being overly cautious?
[edit] Further Study
- Why would Dumbledore want Harry to study Occlumency? Why doesn't Dumbledore instruct him rather than Snape?
- Why does Snape remove his memories and place them in the Pensieve just before Harry's lesson? What memories might they be?
- Why might Voldemort be feeling ecstatic?
- What might suddenly be making Kreacher happy, and why is he watching Harry so closely?
[edit] Greater Picture
As previously mentioned, Kreacher had, in fact, interpreted Sirius' earlier order as permission to leave the house, and he had gone to Narcissa Malfoy, who was the only available member of the Black family that he still respected. It is quite likely that Kreacher's joy is due to Narcissa, or Lucius, promising that with Kreacher's assistance they would get rid of the "blood traitors and mudbloods" now occupying his mistress' house. How this would be done is not yet certain in anyone's mind, as the most recent attempt to retrieve the Prophecy has failed — we have seen the result of that attempt, Bode's spell-induced inability to speak. While the next attempt will depend on information given to Narcissa by Kreacher, it will not be formulated until after Rookwood has been freed from Azkaban, and explains to Voldemort why the first plan would not work. Rookwood will escape from prison at the end of this chapter, but there will be some delay while he, presumably, learns of the current plan and builds up his courage to approach Voldemort with bad news.
We will shortly learn that the feud between Sirius and Snape started when they were at Hogwarts as students, Sirius with James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin in Gryffindor House, and Snape in Slytherin. Sirius, largely influenced by James, had been more than a bit of a bully, picking on Snape in particular, and Snape had clearly never forgiven him. Sirius' imprisonment must have been very sweet for Snape, and Dumbledore's accepting his innocence after his escape must have been galling, particularly after Snape saw his chances of receiving an Order of Merlin slip away with Sirius' escape from Hogwarts in an earlier book.
Twice in this book, Harry will need to speak with Sirius, and will break into Professor Umbridge's office to do so. He will later find that the gift Sirius has given him here is a magic mirror that will reach Sirius at any time. This mirror would have been extremely useful, but Harry believes that his using it would expose Sirius to risk of recapture, and so deliberately forgets it. One may ask why, in this case, the mirror is provided at all? It turns out that a fairly substantial plot point of the final book will hinge upon this mirror. This small detail indicates the planning and interconnectedness that characterizes this author's work in this series.
The interaction with Cho Chang in this chapter shows once more how unprepared Harry is for a romantic entanglement. He is here so wrapped up in his own troubles that he almost fails to note that Cho has something else on her mind. The Hogsmeade visit, as we might expect given this inauspicious beginning, will be a complete failure.
Much later in the book, Snape will be called away from an Occlumency class, and Harry will be left alone with the Pensieve containing Snape's memories. Curiosity will get the better of him, and Harry will see, in Snape's memories, an event that will completely change his perception of his own father. It is here that we will learn that James and Sirius were not merely wild, as mentioned earlier in this book, but were actually surprisingly vicious bullies.
As mentioned above, Rookwood escapes Azkaban at the end of this chapter, as do several other Death Eaters. This will appear in the Daily Prophet the next morning, and Harry and Ron will conclude that this is what has made Voldemort so happy. Bode's death will appear in the paper as well, and while Harry does not remark on it at the time, it is likely that this also will have caused some small rejoicing by Voldemort.
